working with the ribbon word 2010 – STL

This question is not quite eligible for to be a QI question but still worth knowing.

A document can look a bit bland without diagrams, and if you can’t get your point across quickly and easily, it can affect a business decision, project plan or sales analysis.

A graphic or diagram can be much easier for a reader to digest complex data compared to several paragraphs of text.

Clip Art
Clip Art can be anything from a piece of stock photography, drawings or movie.
These can be used to illustrate a point or concept in your documents.

clipart menu word 2010 — When I click on the Clip Art button, I get a menu of images. I can search for an image to match my term.

SmartArt
These graphics are more dynamic. They can be uses to illustrate a process model, organisational charts or even Venn diagrams.

Word 2010 gives a complete menu to choose from. I love this tool, as it saves me trying to design models or diagrams and fretting with margins. I can focus on adding the content to the image, and get my message across in my Word document.

SmartArt-options-Word-2010 — When I select Smart Art, I get categories of ready-made graphics to choose from, and add my own details to.

For example, if I need to add an organisational chart, I can select a ready made model and alter it to fit my needs. I can edit it, resize it, and change the colour scheme, all with a few clicks.

Example of an organisational chart in Word 2010 — After selecting the chart I want, Word 2010 automatically shows the Design tab for editing my chart.

Word advanced options include embedding videos, resizing images, rotating images and oh, so much more. Make a start by experimenting by adding images and editing them, and keep on learning.

I’m getting used to the Ribbon in Word 2010. I started spotting something happening when I clicked on a piece of text or image in my document. Not one to keep these things to myself, I will share them with you.

The “ghost toolbar”
Word 2010 has this little helper, so when I double click on a piece of text, no matter what tab I happen to be using at the time, Word gives me a mini toolbar with the common actions I might want to complete. It appears as a little ghost toolbar (not the correct technical term, but it is Halloween soon). Microsoft refers to this as the automatic view of actions available…but I prefer the ghost toolbar for now.

screeen-shot-of-automatic-toolbar-word-2010 — I am using the References tab. I highlight a word, and the automatic toolbar option appears, with options to edit that selection using Home tab options. Cool isn’t it!

So if I click on text, even if I am in the References tab, Word 2010 will give me options from the Home tab – like font size or paragraph alignment. Saving me a few clicks (which added up over a working day, saves time and muscle fatigue).

Working with Clip Art image
I am still in the References tab, but when I double click on the Clip Art in my text, Word 2010 automatically changes the Ribbon showing, to the one I need for adjusting the image – the Picture Tools actions.

Automatic-toolbar-ClipArt-Word 2010 — Working in the References tab, I click on my Clip Art image and the Ribbon automatically changes to the one I want. Fab!

Right click button
Sometimes the left mouse button gets all the action, but here is a good use of the right mouse button. If you select your section of text for editing, then right click, the menu options drop down for you to select easily. If I was working in the Mailings tab, and highlighted my text, and then used the right mouse click, I get options displayed from the Home tab for editing my text.

These skills give you different ways to access what you need from the Ribbon. It is something that is included in the Introduction to Word 2010 course, and a skill you can easily build on with practise.

I’m going to keep experimenting and see what happens.

Reference: Word/Course – Working with the Ribbon

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